Pavalar Brothers’ musical journey rooted in songs, lullabies of our parents, recollects Gangai Amaran

The musical journey of the Pavalar Brothers – Pavalar Varadharajan, Ilaiyaraaja, Gangai Amaran, and Bhaskar – is rooted in the “songs of our father” and the “lullabies of our mother”, recalls music composer Gangai Amaran.

In a freewheeling conversation, moderated by B. Kolappan, Senior Deputy Editor, The Hindu, at the newspaper’s head office in Chennai on Friday, Mr. Amaran spoke about his debut film song, Sendhoora Poove, in Bharathi Raja’s Pathinaaru Vayathinile, and recalled that he got a high fever from the excitement of knowing that his name would appear in the title card [as lyricist] of the movie. The song earned a National award for playback singer S. Janaki.

Reflecting on his musical grounding, Mr. Amaran credited his elder brother Ilaiyaraaja for teaching him to play instruments and giving opportunities to write lyrics for film songs. “Anna [Ilaiyaraaja] is the one who made me a musician. I would sit next to him during recordings and play the guitar. The guitar portion in the song Machana paathingala malavaazha thoppukulley gained a lot of appreciation,” he said.

“My journey as a music director began when Anna became overwhelmed with many film commitments. My friends, including Malaysia Vasudevan, convinced a producer to let me handle the music for the film Malargalilae Oru Malligai. Initially, the producer wanted Ilaiyaraaja to compose the music, but my friends persuaded the producer by saying: ‘Let Amar do it.’ I was shocked because I had never composed tunes. I always imagined film titles showing credits like ‘Music: M.S. Viswanathan; Lyrics: Kavignar Kannadasan’, and hoped to see ‘Music: Pavalar brothers; Lyrics: Gangai Amaran,” he added.

He further said that initially, Mr. Ilaiyaraaja had not yet begun writing lyrics. Later, he wrote songs with striking depth. Recalling a particular moment, Mr. Amaran shared how a song penned by Mr. Ilaiyaraaja, about their mother, stunned her. “We recorded it on a tape recorder and played it back to her.” He added that their mother was the source of their musical inheritance. “Our first recorded song was Annakili unnai theduren, a lullaby our mother used to sing. The tune of Sondhamillai bandhamillai song in Ilaiyaaraja’s debut film, Annakili, was inspired by a traditional kummi folk song sung by our mother,” he said.

Mr. Amaran’s use of colloquial language in lyrics set him apart. “While many wrote in literary Tamil, I used the spoken language. For instance, instead of writing Odhungi kol odhugi kol rukkumani vandi varugiradhu in poetic Tamil, I just wrote, Oram po oram po rukkumani vandi varudhu, which struck a chord with the masses,” he said.

Speaking about his directional blockbuster Karagattakaaran, he recalled how the idea for the film took shape. “I took inspiration from festivals near our native village [in Theni district], where Karagattam artists would come from Pallavarayanpatti. Many of them came from very modest families, and they found work only during temple festivals. That reality, along with comedy, shaped Karagattakaaran,” he added.